At present there are a variety of processes that are employed or that are under development in the field of HTS thin film processing. Some of these processes, such as wet chemical etching techniques, are relatively unsophisticated and readily accomplished. However, wet chemical etching techniques are known to be potentially deleterious to the electrical properties of the HTS film. Other, more sophisticated, techniques such as laser ablation and ion implantation require a substantial capital investment in the required processing equipment.
It is therefore one object of the invention to provide a HTS fabrication process that is relatively simple and which utilizes known processes and processing equipment that are generic to most semiconductor processing facilities.
It is another object of the invention to provide a HTS fabrication process which does not degrade the electrical properties of the HTS material.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a HTS fabrication process which beneficially protects the HTS material with at least one layer of metalization and which therefore isolates the HTS material from contact with a processing solution.